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Crush cars
crushes some cars.]]Crush cars are cars that are used for monster trucks to crush during events. Crush cars are primarily used for freestyle, however, crush cars have been around almost as long as monster trucks themselves, so they've also been used for racing and other kinds of competition before the invention of freestyle, which is a fairly new competition comparatively speaking. When referring to "crush cars", one may also be referring to vans, buses, and other such objects that are also placed onto the track for freestyle to crush as well. Because vans are taller than cars, a crush car may be placed next to a van or vans to help the truck get over them easier. Even larger obstacles, such as buses or trailers, may require multiple levels of cars and vans to ramp up to the highest obstacle. Vans are often used for this, but two crush cars on top of each other is roughly the equivalent in height to a van, so this may be used as well. Crush cars are often spray-painted certain colors in Monster Jam. Many other leagues have followed pursuit with this practice, though a few of them leave the cars out on the track completely unpainted. Most of the time, crush cars have their glass panels removed, but some leagues aside from Monster Jam leave the glass on the car, spray painting over it along with the rest of the car. This results in pieces of glass sent flying about when the trucks first crush the cars. In addition to crushing, crush cars are also used for support in construction of backflip ramps as well as turning posts for racing circuits: they are later re-arranged onto the track during intermission for freestyle. Controversy Recently, Monster Jam has ganged controversy for their seeming departure from crush cars, instead using tracks compiled solely of dirt ramps (as well as tire ramps). One reason for this is that it saves money when creating the course. Another reason was actually safety concerns, as shrapnel and pieces of car have been thrown 40-50 feet in the air during some freestyles. Another reason is also due to the fact that the drivers prefer mostly dirt tracks. Over the course of the show, cars and vans will be crushed down, which can cause some racing lanes to be lower and flatter then others. On top of this, cars being crushed down provides an unfair challenge to some drivers during freestyle, as the first drivers get fresh, untouched obstacles, while later drivers get flattened obstacles that did not allow for the same moves or wow moments earlier drivers could accomplish. However, Monster Jam recently began uploading retro World Finals clips to YouTube, from years that had more crush cars on the tracks, and even attempted the Wall of Steel stunt with Maximum Destruction in 2016, possibly hinting that Monster Jam may bring back crush cars for more frequent use in response to the controversy. In September 2016, Monster Jam made a further refinement regarding the use of crush cars when responding to comments left on one of their Instagram photos, which was a photo of Scooby Doo crushing a set of crush cars at a speedway track. They stated that stadium and arena shows were designed to be dirt constructed, while speedway shows would remain car-based. Due to the controversy, Monster Jam has been including crush cars more and more into their events, including vans, cars embedded in ramps, and sets of cars. Ironically, this is not noticed more by fans. On February 15, Monster Jam announced the discontinuation of free standing crush cars due to the concern of modern cars having more debris, which have been thrown into the stands before. Monster Jam kept the embedded cars, and are currently working on an alternative to crush instead. and Soldier Fortune Black Ops doing backflips off of shipping containers. Notice the green car in between the ramp and the wall.]] freestyle was controversial among fans due to its excessive dirt ramps and lack of cars and vans.]] Category:Monster Truck Terms